


I Think I Can

by Pheek



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Angst, Mentioned Character Death, Obsessions, TUE mention, badger cereal, redemption arc, space!danny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-16 03:54:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28949973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pheek/pseuds/Pheek
Summary: “I can’t change what I’ve done...to you and...to your family.” The word came out sticky. “But, I don’t know where else to start. Just tell me where to begin repairing this divide because I realized recently that I’m headed down a rather dangerous path, and I just need a way to fix it. Just tell me what you want me to do.”
Comments: 4
Kudos: 53





	I Think I Can

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Sorry--I said I’m sorry.”

“No, heard that.” 

“Then why did you--”

“Because it’s just so unbelievable!” Danny shouted and stared down the other halfa standing in the doorway to his home. “Two years--and, what, like twenty before that--where you’ve been trying to kill--” He suddenly became very aware of their location, and pushed Vlad out of the way to shut the door behind them. Narrowing his eyes, he snipped, much quieter, “You’ve been trying to kill my dad and marry my mom, and now you think by just saying ‘sorry’ that suddenly fixes everything! You tried to clone me.”

“I did clone you.”

Danny tore out his hair. “This is what I’m talking about!”

“I know! Daniel. I know.” Vlad looked down at the ground.

Danny had never seen the other man look so small, like a scared animal, shivering and afraid. If he wasn’t convinced this was some kind evil plan, he might actually be inclined to comfort him.

“I can’t change what I’ve done...to you and...to your family.” The word came out sticky. “But, I don’t know where else to start. Just tell me where to begin repairing this divide because I realized recently that I’m headed down a rather dangerous path, and I just need a way to fix it. Just tell me what you want me to do.”

The younger halfa stared at him. After two years of near constant harassment and surveillance, after nearly killing him trying to get his mid-morph DNA, after convincing Danny that he had to be alone in this because the only other halfa was a sadistic sociopath, now...now he wanted to start over?

“Why are you doing this? What’s your plan?”

“There is no plan!” Vlad shouted, eyes flaring momentarily.

Danny blinked at him twice and then immediately took off walking in the other direction.

“Wait!”

“Not if you’re going to yell at me.”

“I’m sorry!” Vlad said, running up alongside the boy.

“I think every time you say it, I somehow believe it just a little less.” 

“Please! Just give me a chance!” 

Vlad was begging. Vlad was begging him. Wow. Danny was caught somewhere between believing he was witnessing a glitch in the Matrix or having a stroke. 

“Why?”

“What?”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

Danny rolled his eyes. “Why now?”

“I...no real reason, just finally had a coming to Jesus moment, I suppose.”

“Yeah, and I accepted that Pluto isn’t a planet.”

Vlad cocked his head. “But it isn’t?” 

Danny’s eyes flooded with a sparkling black cosmos and his hair stood up on end like a disgruntled cat. “You shut your mouth.” He took off again.

Vlad shuddered and made a mental note to never bring Pluto up in conversation again. “Okay! Okay! You got me!”

Danny stopped but didn’t turn around. 

“Daniel--you’re the only other person on this planet that is going to understand what I’m about to say.”

The ghost kid turned around, eyes fading back into baby blue as his hair started to settle down. “What.”

“It’s about my…” Vlad fidgeted with his tie. “Obsession.”

Danny frowned. “Oh.”

“Yes.”

“You don’t have to--”

“I do...you deserve an explanation.”

The wind whipped past the two. Even the talk of such a taboo subject among the powerful ghosts chilled the area and darkened the street around them, sharpening corners and lengthening shadows. The coming dark of dusk was enough to hide the effect to any passerby but the chill in the air was undeniably ghostly.

“Maybe we should talk about this somewhere else,” Danny suggested and watched the man let out a much needed long breath. “Common.”

He led them into an alley, checked for any squatters or security cameras before changing into his ghost form. Vlad followed without a word, and they both shot up into the air, the older following the younger to a secluded grove in the park. 

Danny rubbed the back of his neck. He hated awkward conversations--to the point that he would hide under a blanket for entire scenes of sitcoms to avoid the second hand embarrassment. And if he was being honest with himself, while telling his parents about his ghost-half terrified him to no end, if they accepted him and then he had to subject himself to hours of explanations and awkwardness--he might just suck himself into a Fenton thermos and never come out. “So…”

“Don’t rush me, boy.”

“Yikes.”

“Sorry.”

“Ya keep saying that.”

“Hmm.”

The sky was starting to darken and the stars began coming out, and with them, Danny felt his core hitch with the exhilaration of the infinite span of space and the planets and the stars and the way all of it pulled and pushed on each other in a chaotic kind of balance, and--

“Are you okay?” Vlad asked, staring at him as though he’d grown a second head. Which he’d done. More than once.

Danny shook the thoughts of the cosmos out of his mind, his hair falling limp and his bright white aura dampening. The night sky always left him more energized. More powerful. More joyful. 

He stomped out that joy. 

“I thought we were talking about you.”

“Right. Yes. Sorry,” Vlad said, although it was clear he wanted nothing more than to dig into whatever was going on with Danny. He cleared his throat. “I’m sure by now you’ve had more than one run in with your obsession.”

He ground his teeth together with a crunch. “Yes.”

“And you know what yours is?”

“This isn’t about me.”

Vlad held his breath. “But it is.” He cleared his throat. 

Danny crossed his arms. “You better get to your point here pretty quickly cause I’m about to bail if you don’t start talking.”

“Yes, yes, of course!” Vlad huffed and his usually spiked hair flattened ever so slightly. “I never should have--I made a mistake, with you. Because of my obsession.”

The younger halfa blinked at him.

“Because...well...um…” He never used ‘um.’ He'd always been too proper and put together to use 'um.'

“You don’t have to tell me,” Danny said, feeling that familiar sense of dread bubble up in the back of his throat.

“I do.” Vlad sighed and soundlessly began to pace in the air. Each impossible step quickening and radiating nervous fuchsia energy. “M-my obsession,” each word carried a certain amount of reverence, “is control.”

The power of the word flooded over Danny, and he felt Vlad’s honesty in the center of his core. Any quip he’d been planning on responding with flew away to be replaced with a sense of respect for a vulnerable truth. Obsessions were off limits between ghosts--a kind of intrinsic right to privacy that even the most despicable ghost had. Whether it be obvious or not, it was only the ghost themself that could and should confront it. But, he’d be lying if he hadn’t wondered what the older halfa’s obsession was, the main contenders being his mother--a thought that made him want to walk into the sea--and owning things. The true answer was a lot more tame than he’d expected.

“I’ve never had control over anything, really.”

“Had me fooled.”

Vlad hmmed and touched down to the ground, changing back into his human form. “I tried to satiate it through money, power, you--once I found out you were halfa, and...an attempt at sparking a long lost romance with Madeline.”

“Romance?” Danny prodded before he could stop himself.

Vlad swallowed and sat on the grass. “I suppose it was more of a crush than anything--but it can be hard to let go of what your life was before death. Hard to embrace the changes--I’m sure you’ve had your fair share of experiences with that.”

“Y-yeah,” Danny said, dropping to the ground but remaining in ghost form. People--humans--moved on, embraced change. Planned for the future and discovered new interests. They didn’t look up at the night sky and suddenly become overcome with the awe and wonder of a child seeing all of it for the first time---

“You’re doing it again.”

Shaking his head Danny touched down and switched back to his human form. Grounded. He had to stay grounded.

“Is that new?”

“What?”

“That.”

“That what?”

“Sweet butter crumpets talking to you is like screaming into an echo chamber sometimes.”

“I’m sixteen, what do you expect?”

Vlad scoffed. “When I was your age I was half way through emancipating myself and starting my own business.”

“Yeah and I’m sure I would have to if I hadn’t died.”

“Touché.” Vlad stretched out his arms and then examined his nails. Perfect, manicured, except for the slightest amount of dirt under his middle finger--there. Gone. Clean. Controlled. “But that behavior is new for you, yes?”

“Yeah. But I don’t know if I want to discuss my obsessions with you.”

Vlad swallowed, “And I would never ask you to.”

Danny blanched at him, “And you say talking to me is rough--You just did!”

The older halfa scoffed. “That’s not your ‘obsession,’ Daniel. It may be overwhelming, but your core is simply developing a new facet to it based on your own...well, interests, shall we say? At the time of your accident.”

“Oh.”

Vlad’s fingers sparked. The light danced through the darkness fingertip to fingertip, eventually whirling down into his palm and dissipating. “Don’t worry, you’ll learn to control it, just like all of your other abilities.”

Another new ability? He’d thought he’d stopped getting new powers by now. And while his older, evil self had gotten the ghostly wail--that’d been the only power that version of himself had that Danny himself did not. Was he going to get more powers? And how did this ‘core power’ differ from his other powers?

“Wait a minute! Stop!”

Vlad’s eyes widened in alarm.

“What does any of this have to do with me? And why are you suddenly being so nice? And--”

“Yes...well…” He trailed off, and his nervous demeanor resumed. “You’re going to have to give me the benefit of the doubt here because I can’t really prove any of it and, to be honest, it’s a little far-fetched.”

“I’m listening.”

“I…” His eyes grew hollow, and suddenly this Vlad looked like a completely different person than the halfa that had thrown Danny into the pavement just last week. “I--And I’m going to need you to let me finish this completely because it’s all going to come as a bit shocking and--”

“Would you just tell me already?” 

“Right. Sorry.” Vlad clasped his hands and let out a long breath. “I killed your father.”

“Excuse me!” Even in human form, Danny’s aura flared bright white and his eyes were lost in a halo of ghostly glow. He rushed Vlad and grabbed him by the collar, pinning him up against a tree.

“Please! I understand that this upsets you--but you also have to believe me--your father is fine now.”

“You better start talking right now or you’re not gonna get another minute to understand anything.” Danny threw him to the ground.

“Please, Daniel, let me finish. I understand that this sounds crazy, but I’m trying to explain. I-I got lost in my obsession and I--everything got so out of hand, and I lost sight of myself. Before I knew it, I had killed Jack and forcefully took you and your mother and sister--holding you all prisoner in my mansion--”

Danny’s aura receded. “What the hell are you talking about? None of that happened.” But his core wasn’t in the words, that same sense of truth emanated from the other halfa, conflicting with his own reality.

“I promise this will make sense. But you--my...actions, killing your father, it...destroyed you as well. And I never intended that! But, well you were driven crazy with grief for your father and what must have been a broken...uh...forgive me for saying this, but--”

“I failed my obsession,” Danny breathed. Even now, just the thought of not being there and not being able to protect his father ate at him from the inside. Bile rose in his throat. His body coated with sweat. His hands started shaking.

Vlad swallowed. “Y-yes. So I tried to help you--because that...no ghost should...but I removed your ghost half--”

Danny felt the world begin to spin around him. No. He stopped that from happening. That never happened.

“And, that side of you, fractured and no longer tied to your humanity...killed your human half and then ripped out my ghost and before I even knew what was happening the two merged---and I wouldn’t have escaped if it hadn't been for this ghost I’d never met before. He controls time and protects certain timelines, and he gave me another chance. His name was--”

“Clockwork.” Numb was a good word to describe how he felt right now. He slumped against the tree behind him.

“You’ve met him?”

“Y-yeah.” Danny swallowed. “Under scarily similar circumstances...he just let it go a bit farther that time.”

“Oh.” Vlad adjusted his tie. “Then you understand.”

Danny closed his eyes and repeated the words Clockwork had said to him, “Everyone deserves a second chance.”

But...how many ways could that future come about? Just how much of a liability were Danny and Vlad to the rest of the world? Were they the only version of themselves that hadn’t permanently destroyed the Realms? Why had Clockwork taken pity on them twice now? 

The thoughts began to close in on him. Either the world was moving around Danny at an imperceptible rate or was balancing on the tip of a pin, ready to fall into nothing if anybody anywhere so much as breathed. 

Danny breathed. 

“I messed up, Daniel,” Vlad adjusted his cuffs. Links in. Links out. Links in. Links out. “I thought I could be happy and fulfilled, but I was miserable. Maddie didn’t love me. You were a wreck.”

“And you basically brought about the end of the world,” Danny added, “And killed my dad.”

Vlad cringed. “And I now know that’s not what I need...or want. And that...I need to learn how to put the needs and happiness of other people before my obsession.”

Danny stared at him for a second. “What the hell am I supposed to do with any of this information?”

“I don’t expect you to do anything.” Vlad stood up and looked Danny in the eye. “I got everything I ever wanted only to realize that I should’ve just focused on what was actually in my control. My actions. My emotions. And not tried playing with other people’s lives like some kind of god.”

“Or Clockwork.”

“Or Clockwork.” Vlad’s eyebrow quirked up. “But I needed to tell you. Because your obsession was involved and because--because I want a chance to help you. No strings attached this time. And to...I,” Vlad’s eyes flashed for a moment, and his voice cracked, “I missed your father. I regretted what I’d done immediately, and I want nothing more than to be...a positive part of Jack and Maddie’s life again.” He paused. “I missed...I miss having friends... and I miss not being alone.”

“And it only took destroying my family to do that.”

Vlad looked down. “And to that I can’t say anything but sorry.”

“I don’t know if that really covers it.”

“That’s understandable.”

Danny’s thumb picked at the bark on the tree behind him. Chipping it, piece by piece off of the trunk until the raw wood was exposed. 

“How are you going to manage your obsession now?”

“That’s a rather brash question.”

“I think we’re past that.”

Vlad cleared his throat. He pulled out his pocket square and began to fold it and unfold it and fold it. “I don’t know. I think it’s just time for me to live as a human for a while and remember what that’s like.”

“Not a bad start.”

“You think so?”

Danny shrugged. “My...uh...most obsessive weeks are usually the ones that I don’t take time to just be myself--a few human activities kinda jostles everything back into place.”

“You make it sound very easy.”

“It’s not,” Danny sighed, “But I guess I don’t have to tell you that.”

The wind blew between the two. Night had fully settled in and without their ghostly ability to see in the dark they’d be fumbling through the grove of trees completely blind.

“So what do you want me to do?” 

“What?”

“We’re not doing that again,” Vlad scowled but caught the tiniest bit of amusement in Danny’s eyes. “I want to prove to you that I’m sorry and that I want to change. What do you want me to do?”

Danny was quiet for a second. “Well, for starters, I don’t forgive you.”

“But I--” Bright red flooded from Vlad’s eyes for a second, but with a long breath he released the intrusive thoughts. “I understand.”

“But i guess you could help me with this.” He changed into his ghost form and where the black of the hazmat suit had once been, an expansive cosmos littered the material. His eyes and aura copied the pattern and his hair flared with the fire of a sun. 

“Yeah,” Vlad smiled as he flipped into ghost form, “I think I can.”

**Author's Note:**

> And then I imagine the camera just slowly pulls away and you here vlad say something along the lines of 'so what you're gonna want to do is..." and then it just fades to black and credits.
> 
> I literally do not know how to think in prose anymore. But ehhhhhhh
> 
> I've literally never written or thought about redemption!Vlad and now it's literally 2/3 of my most recent posted phic work. WTF. But enjoy! It was a gift for lexiepiper on tumblr for the holiday truce!


End file.
